I thought that after all the monumental changes we made following our first child’s birth, our second would have little impact on my mentality or beliefs. I had already changed so much – what else could I possibly learn?

Surprisingly, quite a bit. Her entrance made just as much of a *splash* in our lives as her big brother. She was our second homebirth, a dream-like experience that could only be described as miraculous. It was truly blissful.

As though that wasn’t enough, my daughter was the happiest baby I could imagine. She rarely ever cried, and if she did, it was the cutest cry – waaa squeak! waaa squeak! – and she would stop (even mid-squeak) as soon as someone picked her up.

As she gazed contentedly up at me over the first few months of her life, it was as if she was telling me, “Mom, your whole life can be as blissful as my birth.”

So, I set out to make it so. Everything mediocre had to go, starting with my job. We could manage financially on just one salary, and I could tell that I had more to learn by spending the year with her than by returning to a job I didn’t love.

Now, a year later, my husband is joining me.

So, while we may be forfeiting $100,000 per year in lost wages, my husband and I plan to both take off next year to be with our children while they are young. We want to untether from all that is keeping us from intimate closeness and life-altering experiences with our family and find new ways to support ourselves financially.

Want to follow us on this journey?